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User blog:Matthew Babe Stevenson/Historical references
These are my proposed additions to References to Historical Figures in Turtledove's Work. P.G.T. Beauregard Pierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard (May 28, 1818 – February 20, 1893), commonly referred to as P.G.T. Beauregard, was an American military officer who was the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Beauregard won early Confederate victories at Fort Sumter and First Bull Run. He then commanded armies in the Western Theater, including the Battle of Shiloh and the Siege of Siege of Corinth. He returned to Charleston and defended it in 1863 from repeated naval and land attacks by Union forces. His greatest achievement was saving the important industrial city of Petersburg, Virginia, in June 1864, and thus the nearby Confederate capital of Richmond, from assaults by overwhelmingly superior U.S. Army forces. In April 1865, Beauregard surrendered alongside General Joseph Johnston. Following his military career, Beauregard returned to Louisiana, where he advocated black people's civil rights and suffrage, served as a railroad executive, and became wealthy as a promoter of the Louisiana Lottery. Beauregard's hero status from the War of Secession is sporadically referenced in Southern Victory. One of the most desirable rooms in the Charleston Hotel is the Beauregard Suite.American Front, pgs. 551-559, mmp. Soldiers P.G.T.B. Austin in Walk in Hell and Beauregard Barksdale in Breakthroughs both appear to be named for the general, and Anne Colleton comments on this in the latter case. See also *Peegeetee of Goodlook, a fantasy analog of Beauregard in The War Between the Provinces: Advance and Retreat. Thomas Beckett .... Within Southern Victory, Henry and Beckett's story is invoked in Breakthroughs by Abner Dowling in an attempt to talk sense into General Custer. The obscure pearl of wisdom was completely lost on Custer, if not on most of the readers as well. In the next volume Blood and Iron, Arthur McGregor makes it a humorous metaphor when his daughter Julia wishes someone would do something about her nuisance of a little sister Mary. Julia replies that the local American-controlled Canadian schools aren't teaching the history of England anymore, except to say that Britain was very wicked during the American Revolution. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, Jennet Walker establishes her credentials with Dr. Edwin Durrell by reciting an obsessively detailed oral essay on the Henry-Beckett feud. Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 1874 – 2 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who became world-famous after discovering the intact tomb (designated KV62) of the Egyptian 18th Dynasty Pharaoh, Tutankhamun (colloquially known as "King Tut" and "the boy king"), in November 1922. In Alpha and Omega, the team of archaeologists including Eric Katz have Howard Carter on their minds frequently as they excavate the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. When Katz asks Yoram Louvish what he expects they will find behind the next wall, Louvish replies "Wonderful things," which all present recognize as Carter's statement of what he saw in Tut's tomb.Alpha and Omega, p. 104. Charles, Prince of Wales ' novel, and a fictional analog for Dreyfuss and Turtledove.]]Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay (born 14 November 1948), popularly known as Prince Charles, is the heir-apparent to the British royal line, as the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. Charles has long been active as a supporter of philanthropy and conservation, although his reputation suffered in the 1990s, due to his wanton ways and his divorce from his first wife Diana Spencer. He is the oldest and longest-serving heir-apparent in British history. Charles was once expected to reign as King Charles III, although due to his advanced age and the unprecedented longevity of his mother, this seems increasingly unlikely. In Laura Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, the archaeology team, excavating the Abbey of St. Oswald in 1991, briefly discuss Charles' custom of making speeches at important archaeological sites, and debate the possibility that he might do the same at theirs. But the matter is soon dropped, and never raised again. See also *King Charles III Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the reigning British Monarch in 1995 in ''The Two Georges'', who appears to be a fictional analog of Prince Charles Mountbatten-Windsor. *King Charles III Mountbatten-Windsor at the Emberverse wiki. Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – 1 April 1204) was queen consort of France (1137–1152) and England (1154–1189) and duchess of Aquitaine in her own right (1137–1204). As a member of the Ramnulfids (House of Poitiers) rulers in southwestern France, she was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. She was patron of literary figures such as Wace, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, and Bernart de Ventadorn. She led armies several times in her life and was a leader of the Second Crusade. In The Great War: American Front, Anne Colleton has an inner monologue comparing herself to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Anne has much more freedom than most women of her time, but due to money rather than royal birth. Anne is also intelligent like Eleanor, doubling the profits of Marshlands in only five years.American Front, p. 72, mmp. Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus Augustus (c. 250 – April or May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign, he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Persians, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300. Although he was a staunch opponent of Christianity, Galerius ended the Diocletianic Persecution when he issued an Edict of Toleration in Serdica in 311. In Thessalonica, George the shoemaker studies the Arch of Galerius in the novel's titular city, and wonders what the point of all that fighting was, as the Persians are still around in 597.Thessalonica, p. 26. John Nance Garner In addition to his direct roles in Turtledove's work, former Vice President John Nance Garner is briefly a subject of wonder for "Precious Treasure" POV Peet Staiklee. Peet, a post-apocalyptic nomad who has stumbled upon the John Nance Garner House museum, finds the list of Garner's accomplishments to be so much gibberish. But on learning that United Mine Workers of America head John L. Lewis once derisively described Garner as a "poker-playing, whiskey-drinking, evil old man," Peet concludes that Garner would have been an excellent crony indeed. Werner Heisenberg In addition to his more relevant roles in Turtledove's work, Werner Heisenberg is the subject of an intense debate in the first chapter of Noninterference. When David Ware uses Heisenberg's observer effect as a justification for bending the Survey Service's rules against interfering in native affairs, Chief Engineer Moshe Sharett replies that Heisenberg was talking about atomic particles, not people.E.g., 3xT, p. 13, HC. Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror, and the first male member of the family to be born in England. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, but Henry was left landless. He purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but his brothers deposed him in 1091. He gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William against Robert. Present when William died in a hunting accident in 1100, Henry seized the English throne, promising at his coronation to correct many of William's less popular policies. Robert, who invaded in 1101, disputed Henry's control of England. Henry finally defeated Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray in 1106, and Robert was imprisoned for the rest of his life. Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skillfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy, establishing a royal exchequer and system of justices. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, the discovery of the York Tapestry prompts a historians' debate on how best to reevaluate the roles of Henry and other figures of Tinchebray, when the tapestry's depictions of their relative positions and actions during the battle do not match up with conventional history books. Henry II of England .... Within Southern Victory, Henry and Beckett's story is invoked in Breakthroughs by Abner Dowling in an attempt to talk sense into General Custer. The obscure pearl of wisdom was completely lost on Custer, if not on most of the readers as well. In the next volume Blood and Iron, Arthur McGregor makes it a humorous metaphor when his daughter Julia wishes someone would do something about her nuisance of a little sister Mary. Julia replies that the local American-controlled Canadian schools aren't teaching the history of England anymore, except to say that Britain was very wicked during the American Revolution. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, Jennet Walker establishes her credentials with Dr. Edwin Durrell by reciting an obsessively detailed oral essay on the Henry-Beckett feud. J. Edgar Hoover In addition to his more active roles in Turtledove's work, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is the subject of more minor references. While Hoover was in office at the POD of Worldwar, his final fate in that timeline is never revealed. However, he is referenced often in Colonization and Homeward Bound, where General Charles Healey is said to strongly resemble him. The fact that neither Sam Yeager nor Glen Johnson ever meets him, while running afoul of virtually all American higher-ups in the 1960s, suggests that Hoover either died or was removed from office before that time. Julian the Apostate Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus (Greek: Φλάβιος Κλαύδιος Ἰουλιανὸς Αὔγουστος, 331 or 332 – 26 June 363), was Emperor of the Roman/Byzantine Empire from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the Christian church. Julian initiated and attempt to build a Third Temple in Jerusalem, a move which was probably intended to harm Christianity rather than to please Jews. Julian also forbade the Christians from teaching and learning classical texts. In 363, Julian embarked on an ambitious campaign against the Sassanid Empire of Persia. The campaign was initially successful, securing a victory outside Ctesiphon. However, the Persians rallied their forces and counter-attacked. During the Battle of Samarra, Julian was mortally wounded under mysterious circumstances, leaving his army trapped in Persian territory. Following his death, the Roman forces were obliged to cede territory including the fortress city of Nisibis. He was the last non-Christian to hold the office of Roman Emperor. Julian is the subject of Turtledove's short non-fiction piece "Emperors Shouldn't Skirmish," which speculates that a longer-lived Julian might have made the Byzantine Empire a multi-religious society. Julian's attempted Third Temple is on the minds of several characters in Alpha and Omega, where a Third Temple has actually been built. Eric Katz wonders whether the failure of Julian's project helped or hindered God's plan for the Temple's ultimate purpose, and also speculates on what new form of Judaism would have grown out of a completed Julianic Temple.Alpha and Omega, pgs. 208 and 272, among other references. Justinian II ... In "Two Thieves", Alexios Komnenos thinks of Justinian's promotion of a foreigner, Tervel of Bulgaria, to the post of Kaisar of the Byzantine Empire. While Alexios considers it disgraceful, he understands the need, as he appoints Richard J. Daley to the same post in New Constantinople.Tales of Riverworld, p. 199. Ruhollah Khomeini In addition to his direct role in Colonization and his analog Maximum Ruhollah in The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, Ruhollah Khomeini has a minor posthumous role in Alpha and Omega. After God deflects a barrage of Iranian missiles away from Israel, the Iranian President is found dead at his desk, while a portrait of Khomeini appears to stare at the mysterious writing on the wall nearby.Alpha and Omega, pgs. 222-223. Later, at the official debut of Muhammad al-Muntazar, the Islamic Mahdi, another Khomeini portrait fails to dominate the proceeding as intended, being upstaged by the power visible in the eyes of the young man.Ibid., p. 384. Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793), archduchess of Austria, was queen-consort of France from 1774-1792 as the wife of King Louis XVI. She, like her husband before her, was executed during the French Revolution. Though widely reviled during her reign for accusations of spendthrift habits, callous disregard for the suffering of poorer people, and adulteries with foreign diplomats, she has come to be regarded by many modern historians as a well-intentioned victim of circumstances, who had little real power. The popular anecdote that Marie responded to the peasants' cries over a lack of bread, with the callous exclamation "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche!" (usually translated "Then let them eat cake!"), has been widely discredited. In popular culture, the best known image of her is from portraits painted in extravagant, comical dresses which have inspired numerous fashion statements and examples of satiric humor. In In High Places, when Annette Klein learns that the hapless Celtic slave Birigida was really a rich home timeline American named Bridget Mallory, who had paid for two weeks of slavery as a thrilling roleplay, she recalls that Marie Antoinette had had an eccentric hobby where she and her retainers "played at being milkmaids".In High Places, p. 200. In the Earthgrip story "6+," space merchant Pavel Koniev hears Princess D'Kar of T'Kai declare that her tribe's M'Sak enemies are low wretches with nothing worth trading for. He turns to Jennifer Logan and says "Let them eat cake," referencing Marie's alleged callous contempt.E.g., 3xT, p. 466, HC. Pocahontas Pocahontas (born Matoaka, known as Amonute, later took the name Rebecca Rolfe, c. 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribes in the Tsenacommacah, encompassing the Tidewater region of Virginia. Popular culture remembers Pocahontas via largely apocryphal stories involving her rescue of English army officer John Smith in 1607, her capture by Colonists in a 1613 conflict, her marriage to planter John Rolfe in 1614, and her 1616 tour of London, where Pocahontas was presented to English society as an example of the "civilized savage" in hopes of stimulating investment in Jamestown. She died of an unknown illness while preparing to return to Virginia. In The Great War: Breakthroughs, George Enos and his Navy buddies encounter a vessel called the SS Pocahontas, Arkansas. Wondering what connection the ship has to the historical woman, the men recite a distorted, malaprop-filled biography of Pocahontas.Breakthroughs, pgs. 280-281, HC. Leen Ritmeyer Leen Ritmeyer (born 3 June 1945) is a Dutch-born archaeological architect who currently lives and works in Wales, after having spent 22 years (1967–1989) in Jerusalem. Beginning in 1973, Ritmeyer served for 10 years as official architect of the archaeological dig at the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount directed by Benjamin Mazar. In Alpha and Omega, Eric Katz and Shlomo Kupferman both find Ritmeyer's Temple Mount reports to be useful.Alpha and Omega, pgs. 203, 206. Robert II of Normandy Robert II (c. 1051 – 3 February 1134), sometimes called Robert Curthose ("short-stockinged"), succeeded his father William the Conqueror as Duke of Normandy in 1087 and reigned until 1106. Robert was also an unsuccessful claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of England. Robert's reign as duke is noted for the discord with his younger brothers William II and Henry I of England. Robert mortgaged his duchy to finance his participation in the First Crusade, where he was an important crusader commander. Eventually, his disagreements with Henry I led to his defeat at the Battle of Tinchebray (resulting in his lifelong captivity) and the absorption of Normandy as a possession of England. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, the discovery of the York Tapestry prompts a historians' debate on how best to reevaluate the roles of Robert and other figures of Tinchebray, when the tapestry's depictions of their relative positions and actions during the battle do not match up with conventional history books. Tervel of Bulgaria In addition to his role in ''Justinian'', Tervel of Bulgaria is referenced in "Two Thieves," when Alexios Komnenos thinks of Justinian II's promotion of the foreign Tervel to the post of Kaisar of the Byzantine Empire. While Alexios considers it disgraceful, he understands the need, as he appoints Richard J. Daley to the same post in New Constantinople.Tales of Riverworld, p. 199. Sabbatai Tzevi In addition to his central background role in "The More it Changes," Sabbetai Zevi (the spelling Turtledove uses this time around) is referenced in Alpha and Omega as a cautionary tale, warning that the search for the Jewish Messiah can easily turn up a legion of false positives.Alpha and Omega, p. 113. Victoria of Britain .... In Earthgrip section "The Great Unknown", we learn that the adjective "Victorian" to mean uptight about sex, has not come forward into 30th-century Spanglish, and is only known to Middle English experts like Jennifer Logan.E.g., 3xT, p. 604, HC. William of Mortain, Count of Mortain William, Count of Mortain, 3rd Earl of Cornwall (before 1084 – after 1140) was an English military commander (of Norman) parentage at the turn of the 12th century. He was a cousin of Duke Robert II of Normandy and Kings William II and Henry I of England. From childhood, he harboured a bitter dislike for the future Henry I, and clashed with him over the rights to certain estates. William angrily left for Normandy joining forces with Robert II. In Normandy William attacked several of Henry's holdings, giving the king ample reasons to strip William of all his English honours. He was captured in 1106 with Duke Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray and stripped of Mortain. William was imprisoned for many years in the Tower of London, and in 1140 became a Cluniac monk at Bermondsey Abbey. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, the discovery of the York Tapestry prompts a historians' debate on how best to reevaluate the roles of William and other figures of Tinchebray, when the tapestry's depictions of their relative positions and actions during the battle do not match up with conventional history books. Furthermore, because 12th-century art depicts stylized figures rather than accurate portraits, there is a bit of difficulty in determining just which characters in the tapestry are meant to be William. William of York William Fitzherbert (late 11th century – 8 June 1154) was an English priest, and unusually, twice Archbishop of York, before and after his rival Henry Murdac. Born out of wedlock, he is thought to be a relative of King Stephen, who helped to secure his election to York after several candidates had failed to gain papal confirmation. William faced opposition from the Cistercians, who after the election of Pope Eugene III, had William deposed in favour of their champion Murdac. From 1147 until 1153, William worked to secure his restoration to York, which he finally achieved after the deaths of Murdac and Eugene. He did not hold the see long, dying shortly after his return, allegedly poisoned with the chalice he used to celebrate Mass. Miracles began to be reported at his tomb from 1177 onwards. He was canonised in 1227. In Frankos' St. Oswald's Niche, Jennet Walker and other characters discuss Fitzherbert at length, and agree that he was an unlikely candidate for sainthood. References Category:Blog posts